I hate this type of thing.
It is too competative and relies on the teacher noticing each child and all their behaviours, which is impossible. Only the children who are always around the teacher will get moved up or down the chart-the ones who quietly just get on with it will be ignored. Whether they are quietly getting on with good work, kind behaviour or bullying in the toilets-so long as they are out of sight they will be off the chart.
I have not taught for 6 or 7 years, but never found it necessary to publicly advertise where my children were on a sliding scale of behaviour. In the schools where I taught, the children would have pulled such a thing off the walls and burnt it!
We relied on having relationships with the children, and knowing their personalities and strong and weak points, in order to encourage them and build their self esteem. We had respect for our children, and this built respect in them for us (respect for teachers was not, and should not be a 'given', it should be earned, IMO).
We made sure our teaching was accurately tailored to match the children's needs, and did not expect children to sit and listen to long lectures, or complete meaningless worksheets as 'time fillers'. The children felt challenged, but not out of their depth, and found school interesting, in the main.
My children do not go to that sort of school. At my children's school, they have the children sitting on the carpet for long periods, listening to the teacher talk.They are given photocopied worksheets from generic 'what to give them in this Yr Grp' books, with no differentiation bar a TA to sit next to a child with SN and tell them what to write, letter by letter. They expect the children to be 'good' without defining what 'good' is.
My youngest DS is 4. He is in Reception. He knows how to be 'good'. He folds his arms and tries to get his finger on his lips at the same time. My darling, vibrant little boy has learnt that it is 'good' to shut up and stay still. He has lots of stars and is near 'gold'. He has no idea what the stars are for, except 'being good'.
My middle DS is 5. He is in Y1, in the same class as his brother, as it is a tiny school. He may have an auditory Processing Disorder, and certainly has some form of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) due to bearing the brunt of DS1's difficult and challenging temper over the years. He does not sit still and listen. He has nervous tics and he doesn't easily process what he hears.
He is not 'good' in this teacher's view, although he is the kindest, gentlest little soul you could hope to meet. He has, in the 6 weeks since this teacher started, become withdrawn, depressed and stopped doing the things he enjoys.
He is not near gold. On the chart on the wall of the classroom where everyone can see, he is way down at the start. This embarasses him and makes him feel 'bad'. He tries to get smileys, but gets despondant when his teacher doesn't notice him and quickly gives up. On the rare occassions when the teacher does reward him with a 'smiley', he runs out of school, shouting out to me about it. Most days he slouches out dragging his bags.
My eldest child has ASD. He started at this 'caring, family friendly' school just over a year ago. They knew all about his disability when they took him, and also were made fully aware of the implications (he is incredibly bright and becomes bored in seconds. He is atypical of most kids with ASD in that he hates routine and likes surprises!). They refused to take him full time, and made him sit in the storeeroom to do his meaningless worksheets because he disturbed the teacher and other children with always knowing the answers. They wouldn't let him play out at all in case he ran away (which he never had), so he had to read in the hall all playtime and lunchtime. When he became upset and angry they held him down on the ground until I came for him.
He never got any smileys. I didn't even see his name on the chart, and he was not allowed in the classroom long enough to get one anyway.
Luckily, he now goes to what he says is 'The Best School In The World'. They do not have individual children's names on the wall with stars or smileys next to them. They have lovely teachers who care about the children and treat each one as the individual he or she is.
The classroom behaviour charts are just a 'fluffy' version of the dunces cap. They are devisive and will cause low self-esteem in some children and over-inflated egos in others. They rely too much on a teacher noticing behaviours, and if the teacher is inconsistant in that, the chart will soon lose its power and become ineffective. If, on the other hand, the teacher is absolutely and scrupulously fair, he or she will be too busy noticing behaviours and moving children up and down charts to teach effectively anyway. They are a load of rubbish borne out of the SuperNanny school of childrearing and the last bastian of teachers with no skills.